Doak Walker Award

Trevor Cobb of Rice, Vaughn Dunbar of Indiana and Tommy Vardell of Stanford are the finalists for the Doak Walker Award, given to the country's outstanding running back. The winner will be announced Saturday.

Ron Dayne, Wisconsin's record-setting tailback and the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, received the Maxwell and Doak Walker awards Thursday night. Dayne, college football's career rushing leader, received the Maxwell Award as the best all-around player and the Doak Walker Award as the outstanding running back during the College Football Awards at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Dayne's career totals are 1,115 carries for 6,397 yards and 63 touchdowns.

He was only 5 feet 11, 173 pounds and not particularly fast, but he was big enough to become a legend in Texas, and folks there would say that takes somebody mighty big. Doak Walker, who died Sunday in Steamboat Springs, Colo., at 71, was big enough to move his Southern Methodist football team across Dallas to find more seats for people to watch his exploits, and he was big enough to require that the capacity of the new home--the Cotton Bowl--be expanded from 47,000 to 75,000.

He was only 5 feet 11, 173 pounds and not particularly fast, but he was big enough to become a legend in Texas, and folks there would say that takes somebody mighty big. Doak Walker, who died Sunday in Steamboat Springs, Colo., at 71, was big enough to move his Southern Methodist football team across Dallas to find more seats for people to watch his exploits, and he was big enough to require that the capacity of the new home--the Cotton Bowl--be expanded from 47,000 to 75,000.

Ron Dayne, Wisconsin's record-setting tailback and the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, received the Maxwell and Doak Walker awards Thursday night. Dayne, college football's career rushing leader, received the Maxwell Award as the best all-around player and the Doak Walker Award as the outstanding running back during the College Football Awards at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Dayne's career totals are 1,115 carries for 6,397 yards and 63 touchdowns.

University of Houston running back Chuck Weatherspoon has been dropped as a nominee for the inaugural Doak Walker Award because he has been charged with assault, an official said. Bill Lively, associate vice president for alumni affairs at Southern Methodist University, which sponsors the award, said Wednesday that Weatherspoon, a two-time 1,000-yard rusher for the Cougars, was dropped because of the assault charge involving another student on Sept. 15.

Texas Tech star Byron Hanspard will wait until after the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio to declare his intentions on the NFL draft. "Now is not the time to say what I'm going to do. But everyone will be surprised," the junior running back said Tuesday as the Red Raiders prepared to face Iowa on Sunday night. Hanspard rushed for 2,084 yards this season and won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top college running back.

Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel is the winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and the Walter Camp Football Foundation player-of-the-year award. Since 1967, only four Walter Camp winners have not gone on to win the Heisman Trophy. . . . Arizona State's Bruce Snyder is the Pacific 10 coach of the year. . . . Utah State Coach John L. Smith has a new seven-year contract. . . .

Wide receiver Desmond Howard of Michigan won the Maxwell Award as the nation's best college football player. Junior Steve Emtman of Washington, who earlier in the week won the Lombardi Award, was awarded the Outland Trophy as the nation's top interior lineman.

Trevor Cobb of Rice, Vaughn Dunbar of Indiana and Tommy Vardell of Stanford are the finalists for the Doak Walker Award, given to the country's outstanding running back. The winner will be announced Saturday.